This week I had the privilege of interviewing Brent Milligan for my VIP members. He’s a professional producer/musician here in Nashville. Over the course of 45 minutes, he said so many things that I thought were just fantastic. I told him we could do a separate interview on EACH of those topics, there was so much good information.

Towards the end of the interview, I asked Brent if he had any final advice for aspiring producers. He told us a couple of things, but one thing particularly stuck out. He said, “Always be listening to good music.”

Now, you may be thinking to yourself Umm…yeah. That’s a no-brainer. But I’m always surprised at how little I focus on listening to good music as a way to get better. I still think of the music on my iPod like most normal people do — entertainment, something to listen to while driving, at a party, or mowing the lawn. (more…)

I’ve been listening to Paper Airplane* a lot lately. It’s the latest release from Alison Krauss and Union Station.

Man, it’s good. Go grab it if you haven’t yet.

I’m not a diehard bluegrass fan. I listen to it fairly regularly, but not all the time. But I highly recommend adding it to your regular listening rotation. There’s a lot to glean from bluegrass that you can apply to your own recordings, whether you’re working on an acoustic EP or a full-on heavy metal rock album.